101 Tragedies is Enrique Metinides’s choice of the 101 key images from his life photographing crime scenes and accidents in Mexico for local newspapers and the nota roja (or “red pages,” for their bloody content) crime press. Alongside each image, extended captions give his account of the situation depicted, describing the characters and life of the streets, the sadness of families, the criminals, and the heroism of emergency workers—revealing much about himself in the process. Selected photographs are also paired with their original newsprint tearsheets, collected by Metinides. The photographs have been compiled by Trisha Ziff, a filmmaker and curator who knows Metinides well, and who also contributes an essay about his life, work, and personality. Since all of Metinides’s previous books are out of print, or strictly for art audiences, this will be the only book in print about his life and work. It is also the only Metinides book comprised of images chosen by the photographer himself, and which offers his own account of his life’s work. An accompanying exhibition, which launched at Rencontres d’Arles in July 2011, is being toured to venues in Europe and the Americas.

Enrique Metinides (born in Mexico City, 1934) worked as a crime photographer for over fifty years, capturing murders, car crashes, and catastrophes for the nota rojas, Mexico’s infamous crime magazines. He has won numerous prizes and received recognition from the Presidency of the Republic, journalists’ associations, rescue and judicial corps, and Kodak of Mexico. In 1997 he received Mexico’s Espejo de Luz Prize (Mirror of Light), awarded to the country’s most outstanding photographer. His work as been shown internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art and Anton Kern Gallery, New York; and Photographers’ Gallery, London.

Trisha Ziff is a curator of contemporary photography, a filmmaker, and a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient. She has produced and directed several award-winning documentary films that deal with photographic subjects, including The Mexican Suitcase (2010) and Chevolution (2008).

“Like Weegee, Metinides has an eye for cinematic detail and a kind of point-blank lyricism. His photos have a beginning, a middle, and an end; to look at one is to experience anew a tragedy that is eternally in media res.” — Jeremy Lybarger, Mother Jones

“[The images] push the viewer into the uncomfortable position of feeling awe at the capturing of a moment, admiration of the beauty of it, and horror at the human misery it depicts.” — Joshua David Stein, Blackbook